Jesmin Ara Begum Honorary Member Jesmin Ara Begum was appointed as Honourary Member of the National Human Rights Commission by the Honourable President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on 22nd September 2019. She was born on the 29th of July 1960 in Sunamganj District under Sylhet Division. Her father, Sanwar Ali, was a lawyer and an Intellectual Marty who passed away in the 1971 Liberation War. His memory was commemorated in the national postage stamp post-Independence. Jesmin obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sunamganj Government College under the University of Chittagong. Later, she completed Master of Social Science degree in Political Science from the University of Dhaka in 1983, while simultaneously preparing for L.L.B degree in 1984 under the same institute. In 1986, Jesmin started her career as the first female lawyer in Sunamganj Bar. She attended the 7th B.C.S General Exam and was selected for judicial service in 1988. In her service life, she studied Comparative International Law (MSc.) at Stockholm University of Sweden in 2000-2002. In over three decades of service, Jesmin has worked as a Judge in several positions and several categories of courts–Judge Court, Civil Court, Session Court, Family Court, Appellate Tribunal, Exclusive Artha Rin Adalat, Insolvency Court (Bankruptcy), Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain Tribunal, Special Court Election Tribunal and Election Appellate Tribunal–over seven locations–Dhaka, Cumilla, Daudkandi, Harirampur, Manikganj, Sylhet and Sherpur. For two terms, she served as the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sherpur and Munshiganj Districts. In 1997, she worked as Registrar at Administrative Appellate Tribunal and in 2006, she was appointed as Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Health. Jesmin was posted as Senior District and Session Judge of Cumilla District in 2017, and in her final post, she was sworn in as the Solicitor of Bangladesh, Ministry of Law and Justice. Jesmin is the first woman to be appointed to this role in the history of the country. After completing 31 years of successful judicial service life, she was granted PRL on 28th July 2019. During her judicial assignments as a judge and an administrator, she felt an obligation to give voice to the plight of litigant people, especially women and children, and utilized forums to address these concerns. Jesmin has worked with various NGOs and legal platforms. To groom the next generation of judicial thinkers, Jesmin takes classes and workshops in different organization. She is an active member of Bangladesh Women Judges Association as well as International Women Judges Association. She worked on the USAID’s Justice for All development programme and participated in the Biennial Conference of International Women Judges in Washington DC. She visited several US courts under the umbrella of US National Centre for State Courts (NCSC) to develop her judicial mind and observe their judicial system. She actively participated in the seminar on ‘Human Trafficking’ (Regional Symposium) in Jakarta, Indonesia, Counter Terrorism Study Tour in North Carolina and Washington D.C., United States, and Prosecution Service Seminar in Delhi, India. Jesmin is married to Dr Muhammed Sadique, Chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC). They are blessed with one son and one daughter. Their son Muhammed Kazim Ibn Sadique works as Portfolio Manager, New Zealand to BAT Hong Kong and daughter Mastura Tasnim is completing her Master in Public Policy degree from Victoria University of Wellington under the New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarship. 46